May 3, 2003

SCHWAB THE DECKS: CHARLES SCHWAB RIPS NYSE TRADING SYSTEM

Charles Schwab became the latest luminary to take a swipe at practices at the New York Stock Exchange. "Everybody's beginning to wonder what kind of message the exchange that's seen...

AIRLINES FLY ON ANALYST'S REPORT

Despite a record $3.6 billion in losses this quarter, airlines soared to earn quick gains of as much as 40 percent for investors. Wall Street pounced on a rosy analyst...

CROW PUSHED FROM PRIMEDIA NEST

Primedia continued to prune its top executive ranks even as rumors of an imminent sell-off of New York magazine subside - at least for the moment. Elizabeth Crow, a veteran...

SMOOTH RYE-D: A DERBY DAY GUIDE TO DRINKING

The Kentucky Derby is the race that launched a thousand juleps. In fact, the first Saturday in May, when the race is run, is the only time most people nowadays...

DINNER PARTY CHEAT SHEET

Dinner Party Cheat Sheet is following PETA's advice not to cast hooks into open waters - and will in the future just bash fish over the head instead.LIP SERVICE British...

COMICS - FOR FREE!

Talk about your great giveaways: Free Comic Book Day 2003 hits the stores today. Hot on the heels of "X2" - and the upcoming movies "The Hulk" (June 20) and...

TOWN & COUNTRY BOOT UP FOR A GOTHAM HONKY-TONK HOP

How many times have you heard, "I like all kinds of music - except country"? Well, with "Urban Cowboy" on Broadway and country reigning neck and neck with rap at...

TRI-MECCA 2; GET YOUR FIX OF HOT PICKS AT FLICKS FEST

THE Tribeca Film Festival, devised by Robert De Niro and his producing partner, Jane Rosenthal, to provide a shot in the arm for the downtown economy in the wake of...

'MIDSUMMER' MADNESS

The Bard, boring? Not if the Aquila Theatre Company has anything to do with him. Fresh off last summer's hit "Comedy of Errors," the fiesty troupe presents "A Midsummer Night's...

DAN'S THE MAN

Brooklyn's Dan Zanes and his band have been away, showing off their folksy, family-friendly roots music around the country. Now he's brought it all back home. Following a successful gig...

RUDY AT THE READY TO HELP GOV IN FISCAL FISTICUFFS

GOV. Pataki hasn't asked for his help - yet - but Rudy Giuliani is prepared to stand side by side with the governor in the epic budget battle with the...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

He claimed self-defense, but the jurors didn't buy it. They found James Galloway of Whitmore Lake, Michigan guilty of killing a rattlesnake without a license. A herpetologist had testified that...

ALERT ON NEW QAEDA PLANE-SUICIDE PLOT

WASHINGTON - The recent capture of several major al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan has unearthed a terror plot to fly a plane or helicopter into the U.S. embassy in Karachi,...

'STOOLIE' GRILLED IN COP-KILLING

Defense lawyers spent a second day grilling the key identification witness in the 1988 Manhattan murder of Officer Michael Buczek - implying to jurors that the witness should be disregarded...

GLIMMER OF HOPE FOR TAX COMPROMISE

ANALYSIS ALBANY - City residents who are now facing the biggest tax hikes in New York history should wait at least a week before packing their bags and heading off...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

Manhattan Police nabbed four men on gun possession charges in two separate incidents in Harlem, sources said yesterday. In the first incident, a description of a man who had stolen...

ARAFAT TAKING LOW ROAD OFF THE MAP: ISRAEL

JERUSALEM - Yasser Arafat is already violating the terms of the U.S.-brokered Mideast "road map" by creating a defense cabinet headed by himself, Israeli officials charged yesterday. Ending Arafat's control...

DIZZYING DASCHLE IN A PRO-WAR FLIP-FLOP

Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle - who bitterly accused President Bush of failing "miserably" on Iraq just before the war - has done a total flip-flop and now says Bush...

QUEENS MOM IN MYSTERY DEATH PLUNGE

A beautiful mother who "was happy all the time" plunged six floors to her death from the window of her Queens apartment, police said yesterday. The body of Johanna Tamayo,...

POLL FINDS SARS FEAR IS GRIPPING U.S.

Nearly half of Americans think the United States will get hit by a SARS epidemic like the one that's walloped Asia, even as the World Health Organization yesterday took the...

HIT SQUAD COMES OUT SHOOTING AT HS GAME

A gun-and-bat-wielding gang tried to execute several Queens high school baseball players during a game when they stormed onto the field firing shots, sending players and spectators running for cover,...

BENNETT BARES HABIT FOR BETTOR OR WORSE

William Bennett, the conservative crusader for morality and virtue, is a heavy gambler who has bet millions in the past decade - and dropped as much as $340,000 in one...

MARY JO: HE'S STILL PAL JOEY

Mary Jo Buttafuoco may be divorcing her infamous philandering spouse - but they still get along great, talk to each other daily, and just did a charity gig together in...

TAX SMACKS ARE DOUBLE TROUBLE ; DEAL HITS CITY ON SALES & INCOME

ALBANY - Legislative leaders struck a deal with Mayor Bloomberg yesterday on a $2.7 billion Big Apple relief package that would hike city income and sales taxes - but Gov....

BUSH GOES FOR THE KILL ON TAX CUT

A day after his triumphant "Top Gun" landing on board an aircraft carrier, President Bush yesterday blew up an enemy tank from the cockpit of a simulated futuristic fighting vehicle...

'BEAT THE RAP' MOB GUY FACES NEW CHARGE

The feds yesterday beefed up their case against a reputed mobster with a history of beating murder raps, only weeks before his Manhattan trial. Frederico "Big Man" Giovannelli, was slapped...

HEARTBREAK AS 3,000 GET GRIM LAYOFF NOTICES

Sanitation worker Daniel Bruscella is one of 3,000 city workers who received pink slips yesterday as part of Mayor Bloomberg's layoff plan. The 23-year-old Bruscella, whose last day is May...

ULTIMATE SURVIVOR ; TRAPPED BY ROCK, HE SEVERS OWN ARM

The scrappy mountain climber who survived five days in the remote Utah wilderness by cutting off his own arm with a pocketknife and rappelling to safety probably didn't feel a...

$2.7M TIFF OVER TEEN'S TOP HONOR

A disabled high-school senior is suing her school for making her share the valedictorian stage with at least one other classmate next month - and she thinks her embarrassment, pain...

TALE OF WOE FOR HONCHO OF ROE

Caviar king Arkady Panchernikov will be sent up the river for greedily smuggling roe from sturgeon that prosecutors say he helped drive toward extinction - though defense lawyers say he's...

$2 FARE IS FAIR: JUDGE

Get ready to shell out $2 to ride a bus or subway - at least for now. A Manhattan Supreme Court judge yesterday rejected a request by the Straphangers Campaign...

AGENTS SUE 'RACIST' FBI

Five black FBI agents and one Hispanic agent working at the New York field office filed a federal discrimination lawsuit in Manhattan yesterday. The men accused their supervisor of subjecting...

SCAM CABBY'S 'MONSTER' TALE

A cabdriver who sued the city for $45 million after pretending four taxi inspectors beat him told a federal judge yesterday he had been suffering delusions. "I was creating monsters,"...

STATE'S NEW BLOOD ALCOHOL CONTENT

The state will speed up the new 0.08 percent blood alcohol content standard for drunk drivers from Nov. 1 to July 1. The current limit of 0.10 percent must be...

TAX SMACKS ARE DOUBLE TROUBLE ; PATAKI EYES VETO OF SALES, INCOME HIKES

ALBANY - Legislative leaders struck a deal with Mayor Bloomberg yesterday on a $2.7 billion Big Apple relief package that would hike city income and sales taxes - but Gov....

BYSTANDERS SHOT IN BX.

An unidentified gunman wreaked havoc on the Bronx streets last night when two of his errant bullets hit two innocent bystanders - including an 11-year-old boy who walked home to...

DESPERATE LIGHTNING SIT DOWN KHABIBULIN

The Lightning's entire season came down to last night's Game 5 against the Devils at the Meadowlands. Their playoff lives hung in the balance, with the conclusion to an otherwise...

ZIMMER IN HOSP WITH STOMACH BUG

Yankee bench coach Don Zimmer missed last night's game after he was admitted to Beth Israel North hospital in Manhattan with stomach problems. But manager Joe Torre indicted last night...

BOOMER SHOWING HE'S MONEY PITCHER

Yankees 5 A's 3 The bonus portion of David Wells' contract kicked in last night, and the veteran lefty earned every grand of the $135,000 he pocketed. Working on a...

MILBRETT SPARKS POWER

On a roster filled with several new faces, the 1-3 Power turned to a familiar one to jump-start their season, which continues today at Philadelphia. Forward Tiffeny Milbrett last week...

NETS OWNED SEASON EDGE

There were unlikely heroes, a blowout of embarrassing proportions, great defense and bad offense. And there was a 3-games-to-1 Nets advantage for the first time in five seasons as they...

THESE GUYS JUST KNOW HOW TO WIN

THEY were the first team to the second round and now they are the first team to third. Sometime soon we might discover just how good these Devils really are....

'FUNNY' LOOKING FOR LAST LAUGH

LOUISVILLE - Bobby Frankel, trainer of the hot favorite, Empire Maker, in today's Kentucky Derby, issued this 11th-hour warning: "Bet against him at your own risk." He elaborated, "The script...

KNICKS FIRE THREE OF VAN'S MEN

They were known as Jeff Van Gundy guys and now are free to join the former Knicks coach if he lands in Toronto or anywhere else. Knick assistant coaches Tom...

DEVILS BATTLE FOR TRIPLE-OT VICTORY: MARSHALL WINNER ERASES LIGHTNING

GAME 5/ 3 OT Devils 2 Lightning 1 It gets scary when the Devils start banishing ghosts on their way to the semifinals. Right about then, they start believing. The...

TAMPA'S TORTORELLA DOESN'T KHAB A CLUE

UHH, perhaps it's time for a recount on the Adams Trophy nominees as coach of the year? Which is a subtle way of wondering what in the world John Tortorella...

ZITO'S BIRD TOWN CAPTURES KY. OAKS

LOUISVILLE - Trainer Nick Zito, who won a pair of Kentucky Derbys with Strike the Gold and Go For Gin, and was honored by Churchill Downs with a bobblehead doll...

JET STUD ROBERTSON MAKES BIG IMPRESSION

He resembled a tank, someone Mo Vaughn wouldn't be able to budge. Meet Dewayne Robertson, America's Most Wanted defensive tackle. "I was like, 'Man, I wish we could get HIM!'...

ZIMMER IN HOSPITAL WITH STOMACH BUG

With bench coach Don Zimmer hospitalized, Yankee manager Joe Torre was without a set of eyes and ears he trusts immensely last night when the Yanks opened a three-game series...

SIR CHEROKEE SCRATCHED WITH INJURY

Arkansas Derby winner Sir Cherokee was scratched from the Kentucky Derby yesterday morning because of a minor but ill-timed injury that trainer Mike Tomlinson noted when the colt galloped at...

SHIANCOE: I'M NO SHOCKEY . . . YET

Not long after the Giants pulled a surprise and selected tight end Vishante Shiancoe, GM Ernie Accorsi revealed that the youngster told scout Rosey Brown that he was better than...

MARSHALL GETS ABOARD JUST IN TIME FOR DEVS

Grant Marshall nearly missed the bus to the game last night. But he made it just in time - and then won the game with his goal 11:12 into triple-overtime,...

NOTHING BUT GLOOM: METS' PROSPECTS GRIM & GRIMMER

MILWAUKEE - Don't be fooled. Unless the Mets sweep the Brewers in the three-game series that began last night, their playoff hopes will lie somewhere between a longshot and a...

METROS STILL HURTING

New MetroStars coach Bob Bradley hasn't had his full team yet this season, and it looks like he won't anytime soon. With forward Jaime Moreno out 3-6 weeks, Bradley will...

A TEAM MOST HATED

MILWAUKEE - It isn't just that the Mets are a bad baseball team, you understand. Bad baseball teams sprout up every year, in different cities, for different reasons. The Mets...

LIBERTY OVERJOYED DEAL WAS REACHED

When she heard the WNBA finally solved its labor strife, Liberty general manager Carol Blazejowski headed for the telephone. Teresa Weatherspoon breathed a deep sigh of relief, and first-round draft...

'EMPIRE' TO MAKE RUN AT HISTORY ; DERBY FAVORITE 'MEANT TO WIN'

LOUISVILLE - To the mournful strains of "My Old Kentucky Home," 16 spirited 3-year-old thoroughbreds will parade to post today for the 129th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill...

OSCAR DEFENSE NO GOLDEN VIEW

LAS VEGAS - Boxing will give fans the choice of two extremes here today. You can watch one of the finest prospects in the sport without charge on network television,...

HERE COME THE CELTS

The NBA views the Celtics as the underdog in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Nets. And Byron Scott said nothing to distort that view yesterday. While acknowledging the explosive...

STRAW TO GET JOB WITH YANKS

YANKEE NOTES Darryl Strawberry's re-entry into society will include a part-time job with the Yankees, The Post has learned. Some time in June George Steinbrenner is expected to sign off...

GIANTS GM UNAVAILABLE TO FIX METS

MET NOTES One hope is probably dashed already when it comes to a long-term replacement for Steve Phillips. Giant executive VP and chief operation officer Larry Baer said yesterday that...

THE MILWAUKEE CURE : WRETCHED BREWERS PERFECT RX FOR SICKLY METS

Mets 9Brewers 3 MILWAUKEE - Tom Glavine played the role of stopper last night, but he can't stop the perception that the Mets' season is in major trouble. Glavine earned...

DEVS PLAN TO SWAP PICKS WITH BLUES

Even in the middle of the playoffs, business goes on. The Post has learned that the Devils have formally notified the Blues of their intent to swap first-round picks next...